Supervisors with this research interest

Faculty of Education and Arts

Institute for Learning Sciences & Teacher Education

Associate Professor Clarence Ng has internationally recognised expertise in the field of motivation and learning. Drawing from both cognitive and sociocultural theories, his research work on motivation and learning has taken an integrated perspective to investigate complex contextual and interactive influences on learning and teaching in different curriculum areas using student participants drawn from a variety of disadvantaged backgrounds. The notion of contextualizing motivation and learning is the focus of his book, "Reforming Learning"(Ng & Renshaw, 2009, by Springer), a major international publication for understanding learning reforms within the Asia-pacific region. Building on this successful publication, Clarence is currently leading a group of international educational researchers to develop a new publication, entitled as "Reforming learning and teaching in Asia-Pacific universities"(Ng, Fox & Nakano, forthcoming 2014, by Springer), to explore important issues on improving learning and teaching at the university level, explicating significant influences of globalised processes at work in the Asia-Pacific region.

At the Learning Sciences Institute Australia (LSIA), Clarence is a program director for a priority research program on "Enhancing Literacy and Engagement for Overcoming Disadvantage". A major focus of this priority research program is the development of empirically verified interventions and innovative pedagogical models for re-engaging disadvantaged students to read and write with confidence and interest. National and international researchers including Professors Brendan Bartlett, Claire Wyatt-Smith, Steve Graham and Karen Harris are part of the research team working collaboratively to achieve this significant research goal.

Faculty of Health Sciences

Institute for Positive Psychology & Education

Professor Alexander Yeung is Deputy Director of IPPE and the Program Director for IPPEa??s Positive Education research program. He is an internationally acclaimed expert in educational research who has demonstrated expertise in quantitative and qualitative methods, and is widely published in the most prestigious journals in education studies and educational psychology. He has a strong track record of effectively and successfully conducting large-scale longitudinal research with mixed-method approaches. He has published 7 books, 15 chapters in edited books, 84 refereed journal articles, and presented over 144 papers at international conferences, and his publications are well cited. He is a registered teacher, a registered psychologist, a professional translator, a linguist, an international coach and referee in volleyball, and an educational researcher. In teaching, he has taught in various educational settings from preschool to tertiary levels, including higher degree research programs, high schools, associate degree programs, teacher education institutions, childrena??s play groups, adult education programs, and a police cadet training school. He has taught a wide range of school subjects such as English as a second language, science, physical education, and art. He has taught over 2000 students in teacher education, including more than 100 school principals, and has supervised over 10 Ph.D. students.